As construction begins on the Yokohama tire plant in West Point, the Golden Triangle will see an increase in both executive and transient businessmen.
Some will be from around here. Some will not.
Regardless, it’s important to make them feel at home, Columbus Lowndes Chamber of Commerce vice president Macaulay Whitaker said Tuesday. Many of the people associated with the Yokohama project have Japanese ties and come from that culture. With that in mind, seminars sponsored by the Golden Triangle Development Link to help prepare business owners and civic leaders for the changes related to industrial business in the community began Tuesday and will continue through Thursday.
While Lowndes County residents are familiar with construction crews descending on their community at Paccar, Severstal and other large-scale operations, the sessions will be helpful in particular for Oktibbeha County and Clay County residents.
During Tuesday’s session at Cochran Hall on the MUW campus, Kumi Richardson, premier banking specialist at BancorpSouth, was on hand to help teach some basic Japanese greetings and cultural etiquette. Interacting with people in a business environment and a family setting are different, she said, but it’s best for area community officials to know enough basic Japanese language to establish rapport on a business level.
“Depending on which we’re focusing on, my advice would be totally different,” Richardson said. “Either way you always have to show they’re welcome here. That’s the most important thing.”
Whitaker discussed specifically the economic changes area businesses can expect to see over the long term in housing, dining, retail and finance and encouraged them to support the growth they would soon see.
“Short-term housing becomes extremely popular, and not just rental places but daily rates with hotels,” she said. “There will be small trailer parks that will pop up around locations that are close to the plant. As soon as construction commences, you will see an immediate influx of people. To say there will be a lot of construction going on is an understatement. West Point will not be able to hold physically all of the people that will be working.”
Jenia Vest, industrial health coordinator at Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle, said she expected the increased demand to expand into local medical care.
“There’s going to be a lot of growth coming forth and that’s going to call for a lot services, whether it be medical services, dining services or retail services,” she said. “At this point, we need to adapt, open up and grow a little bit, because this is going to be a big change. This is just phase one, so we need to prepare and grow as we go through this phase and work with these people and see what we can do to meet their needs.”
Nathan Gregory covers city and county government for The Dispatch.
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